The Dehing Patkai Wildlife Reserve and Elephant Reserve is known as the Eastern Amazon. (File)
Gauhati High Court on Thursday issued notices to the Center, the state, Coal India and other stakeholders after taking a suo motu case against coal mining in the also known Dehing Patkai forest under the name of Eastern Amazon.
The bench composed of Chief Justice Ajay Lamba and Justice Soumitra Saiki published the notices after hearing two public interest litigation (PIL) filed by certain lawyers and a mountaineer. The court set July 20 as the next hearing date for the suo motu and the other two LIPs.
Lawyers D K Das and Rakhee S Chowdhury, representing the PIL for lawyer Mrinmoy Khataniar and mountaineer Amar Jyoti Deka, said the court has not combined the three PILs yet.
“The public prosecutor declared in court that the mining operation had been stopped in 2019. But we have argued that CIL operated without authorization for 16 years. In addition, the mining activity was carried out on 16 hectares of additional land in addition to the informed 57.2 hectares, “said Ms. Chowdhury. quoted by the PTI news agency.
Lawyer Santanu Borthakur, who filed the other DIP with his colleague Vikram Rajkhowa, said their petition was to declare Dehing Patkai as a heritage site under the 2002 Biodiversity Act.
The petitions were filed against the conditional prior approval of the Coal India Center for Mining in the Dehing Patkai Forest, stating that it violated the right to life guaranteed by article 21 of the Constitution.
The LIPs underlined that the Dehing Patkai rainforest has an important cultural and ecological importance in the life of the inhabitants of Assam and that it shelters several rare and endangered species of plants, animals, birds, insects and other biodiversity.
At its last meeting in April, the standing committee of the National Board of Wild Life (NBWL) of the Union’s Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change recommended approval of the CIL proposal to legalize illegal exploitation provided that it meets the 28 conditions.
The Assam Students Union (AASU), Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and other civil society groups, in addition to opposition parties, environmentalists, activists, teachers and students have been protesting since May, threatening to more agitation if coal mining is allowed.
